Hi All,
New to posting but swim has been through the loops w/GHB/GBL addiction over the last three months. Just some thoughts on what has made noticeable differences in swim coming off a nearly 24/7 habit for a couple of months. Just my two cents; I hope it can help anyone
Swiy has decided to quit for some reason, either swiy see the degrading health effects of swiy's choices while using, or are tired of having to be concerned about supply, ...whatever. Swim just stopped wanting to HAVE to have something to function.
For a successful taper, 3 important concepts, plus ancillary:
1 - Figure out swiy's first cues of w/d symptoms. For swim, it was hands shaking, with kind of a building anxiety that if swim didn't do something about it, it could get out of control. Not sure if anxiety fed shakes, or the other way around. BUT, here's your chance to take the MINIMAL AMOUNT (g/gbl) to stop the obvious symptoms. For swim, the hands shaking. Swim did not get overwhelming anxiety (such as w/d from benzos) at the same time, so the dose to prevent shaking was simple to find - Under do it the first time! You can always add more. The hands shaking would be the first obvious symptom maybe 5 hours after waking up from g-induced sleep that morning.
The time between w/d episodes will lengthen, and/or the dose to quell them will decrease. Swim never found this terribly unpleasant; almost the opposite, that such a small amount could help my nervous system so much was a great welcome relief. Better than just getting off for no particular reason. Like getting in a cool pool on a hot day, every time.
2 - Swim has found Phenibut extremely helpful - CAUTION: ONLY TO BE USED AS A TOOL DURING W/D!!! Not maintenance. Swim is not a regular user, so 1-2g would stave-off the hand shaking, granted much more slowly than liquid itself, but swim never remembers it getting worse before it got better. Remember how much swiy took and when. THE GOAL IS TO CONTINUALLY LENGTHEN TIME BETWEEN DOSES and REDUCE DOSE QUANTITY. (Yes, swim is sure it doesn't need to be yelled, but it's really SO easy to do but ignored by so many). Probably the take home message is "only use as necessary". Swim has not felt GHB/GBL withdrawal to be horribly severe when conscientiously managed - almost on the contrary, it's nice to have a clear head again.
3 - DO NOT consume caffeinated beverages during the taper. You'll just end up using more g to quell this anxiety, defeating the purpose. Swim totally understands the necessity of of a cuppa in the morning, but really, try to keep it to a bare minimum. ANY OTHER WAY you can take care of your self better: less smoking, better diet, less sugar, etc, will drastically affect swiy's positive attitude during this time. SWIM took up raw foods, gave up caffeine, stopped drinking, worked harder...kept swim's mind off the process. This #3 is not a requirement (none of it is, of course), but it's impressive how small changes from one's daily habits can make on one's sense of self worth.
Ah, the process. How long? I am guesstimating about a week, maybe only 3-5 days. Regarding sleep, swim found himself naturally drifting off about midnight anyway, and would use 1 sleep dose for the night (instead of two) as late into the night as possible - hopefully so the sun was just rising upon waking. If you can get Ambien CR or other, swim has found it useful on occasion. Must be taken on an empty stomach, and don't expect the familiar knockout-punch. It'll take an hour. And even if swiy can get to using only for sleep (swim used primarily because of severe insomnia), swiy is way better off - not preaching, just seen both sides, and swim was totally deluded as to what swim could manage, and what was really happening. They weren't even part of the same game.
TRULY - it's not that long, and it's not that painful. It's NOT like opiate w/d (been through, perhaps worst 8 days of swim's life). It can be managed. If swiy can stay away from the caffeine after you think swiy is done with the process, this seems to help immensely with crazy anxiety bouts until the GABA system is naturally rebalanced. SWIM read on BL that Valerian root capsules can help as a GABA system tonic. They are cheap, smell bad, effective for sleep enhancement. Swim would take 2x the recommended does on the bottle an hour before bed - those doses are more nutritional than therapeutic. Any other ways, and swiy will know best, how to take care of swiy's health, it's easy to get caught up in the possibility of success, which will lead to greater success.
Cheers - Here's to it.
